New fashions, avatars, structures, and other builds. And the work behind them.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Arcadia Asylum

By Becky "Sha" Shamen

In the article, "Saving Prims," we said, "... Arcadia Asylum, on the
Mieville Pond sim. Be prepared for an adventure there". A conscious
effort was made, to keep that sim from taking over the article, because
it was worthy of an article of it's own. Returning there, to take notes
and pictures, we realized just how understated the line was. It's more
than just "an adventure". This sim is a must see, Great Adventure and
should be on everybody's to-do list. Aside from the 1,328 free items,
there are several fun adventures, to be discovered there.

The landing point, for the sim, is a courtyard, in front of the Cog
& Grog Freebie Center. On the other side of the courtyard, we find a
teleporter that goes to the various areas on the sim. The areas
include; Tropics, Steam Fair, Graveyard, Hobo Town, The Deeps, Space and
The Library. Most of the areas can also be reached by walking, flying
or just jumping into the water.

The Deep covers as much area as the surface sim and can be reached in
three ways. Within the Cog & Grog, there is a stairway that leads
under water. On the dock, next to the Chinese Junk, there is an entrance to Cap'n
Nemo's Underwater Observatory, which uses tubes to connect to chambers
beneath the surface. You can also just jump off any of the docks, to
reach the sea floor. In the deep, you will find underwater habitats, plants, sea creatures. You can even get your own whale or even a kracken. One of the most interesting nautical items, the whirlpool, proved to be
be a fun ride. I got one to take home, but, unless I terraform, won't
get put out from my inventory any time soon. It has a lot of prims, but
can be reduced by removing some of the items that circle the top.

Taking the teleport to the Space area, we find spacesuits, spaceships,
planets and asteroids. The most interesting "space" item is found at the
courtyard of the sim landing. There, we find a giant cannon, which
shoots a bullet shaped capsule to the moon. I had actually been back to this sim several times, before deciding to
click on it and see what it does. Next thing you know, the camera
switches to an exterior view of the projectile, with your av inside and
stars zipping past. We end up on a lunar surface, staring at our crashed
ship, with the earth in the distant background. Fortunately, there is a
teleport, near by, to take us back down, but, as long as I'm on the
moon, I look around for any other interesting things to explore. Sure
enough, among the lifeless rocks there is one that has some color to it
and there's a large hole at the base, with a churning mist within.
Looking in, it seems to go down to a cavern with large gems on the
walls. Naturally, Miss been there, done that, had to go into the cavern.
All I will say is that, yes, there is an adventure and I went several
times, to learn the way out of the conflict with the lunar inhabitants.

Now, safely back home, on my keyboard, I find myself wondering what
other hidden adventures are yet to be had at Arcadia Asylum. You can be
sure that this writer will return there many times, in the future.